Book Review

Japan's Motorcycle Wars: An Industry History

By Jeffrey W. Alexander

Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2009

ISBN-13: 9780824833282

Ryôta Nishino

Jeffrey W.
Alexander writes a history of the Japanese motorcycle industry with verve and a
sense of determination. He aims to fill a void in the field of motorcycle
history—both in the Japanese- and English-speaking academy. Alexander
cautions readers that the book is not about motorcycles or management theories.Instead, he uses a
holistic approach. He charts political, social, and economic factors affecting
the efforts of motorcycle entrepreneurs during the twentieth century. One
persistent question for Alexander is how over two hundred
motorcycle companies shrank to four major manufacturers in the aftermath
of the World War II (4).

Japan’s Motorcycle Wars unfolds chronologically from the late Meiji era
(1868-1912) to the late twentieth century. Starting at the dawn of Japan’s
motorcycle industry at the turn of the last century, Chapter 1 relates government
initiatives to establish new road codes and licensing following the advent of
motorised vehicles. Alexander argues the government aimed at a mixed traffic
society in which the existing transport apparatuses, such as horse-drawn
carriages and rickshaws, travelled alongside the motorised options. The chapter
tells us about the upgrading of road networks dating back to the Edo period
(1603-1868) and the implementation of traffic regulations. Amongst several
individuals in this chapter, we meet ShimazuNarazô,1 the founder of the Miyata Manufacturing Company. He is credited as the creator
of the four-stroke engine and Japan’s first domestically produced motorcycle.
His achievement was the result of much effort, as part of a search for diverse
applications for motorized engines. Historians will appreciate Alexander’s
efforts in taking a holistic view in narrating the development of motorcycles.
He explains the rise of motorcycle sports as an incentive for manufacturers to
improve the quality of their craft, and to spread the appeal of the motorcycle
to the populace. Previously, I had the impression that the Japanese motorsport industry
took root in the postwar era; Alexander’s book
corrected this assumption.

In Chapter 2,
Alexander describes how the Japanese motorcycle industry enjoyed steady
development during the politically liberal, or less restrictive, Taishô period (1912-26) in which socio-cultural innovations
took shape elsewhere in Japan. This was curtailed when Japan’s imperialist
ambition resulted in the invasion of Manchuria and all-out war with China. The
motorcycle industry benefited from the patronage of the police force for its
orders to produce patrol vehicles, but eventually the patronage took on a new
form. During wartime, the manufacturers had to operate within the restrictions
of the military government. The government also encouraged the production of
larger motorcycles and, under a banner of self-sufficiency, the manufacturers
had to produce motorcycles with limited raw materials. Here, the Rikuô motorcycle is a telling example cited by Alexander.Rikuô began in
the late Taishô period (1912-26) as a
government-backed joint venture with American owned Harley-Davidson. But as the
government’s self-sufficiency became the official credo, Rikuô had to produce its products without any foreign parts (60). This was a period
in which engineers, motorcycle company executives,
government and military officials had closer connections. One cannot help but
wonder how their personal connections affected these business ventures.

Following
Japan’s defeat in 1945, the country came under the rule of the U.S.-led
Occupation Force. Japanese industries were, therefore, bound by the prohibition
against military production. Additionally, the availability of loans became
tighter as the government was saddled with reparations. Once freed from the
payments, some enterprising engineers seized new market opportunities. An
oft-told story is the lateral move by Nikon from wartime optic devices
manufacturer to cameras. Likewise, the Nakajima Aircraft Manufacturer applied its
wartime expertise and turned to producing motorcycles with its flagship product
the Rabbit. Another example is Yamaha’s foray into motorcycle design after
manufacturing looms and musical instruments. Honda and New Fuji went against
the big motorcycle production the wartime regime had preferred. Cubs and
Rabbits from their respective companies proved to be hit products. The second
dawn of the Japanese motorcycle industry saw the birth of over 200 manufacturers.
Throughout the postwar decades, both the rider
population and motorcycle production increased. Motorcycle sports revived after
the wartime hiatus and, as the road conditions improved over the decades,
touring became a leisure activity. But we know that only four manufacturers had
survived by the 1970s (Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, and Yamaha). As Alexander
demonstrates, successful firms survived because they excelled in engineering,
mass-production, and securing loans.

A sub-theme in
Alexander’s work is how some firms survived and others perished as a result of a
devastating earthquake. The Great Kanto earthquake of 1923 (and others) did
break the neck of many firms. Two years after the publication of Alexander’s
book, northeastern Japan was struck by a catastrophic
earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. With this memory still fresh and even
reviving that of previous earthquakes, Alexander’s book gives an unexpected,
albeit unfortunate, inspiration for and historical hindsight into how companies
can rebuild themselves following such a natural disaster.

In Chapter 6, Alexander
introduces the stories of failed firms as the counter to the glowing success
stories of the “Big Four” and to better illustrate what set those “winners” and
“losers” apart. Even among the “losers” that went bankrupt, some survived by
altering their focus. Miyata switched to bicycles. Following a few name
changes, Nakajima Aircraft settled on Subaru and concentrated on motorcars.
Bridgestone abandoned motorcycles and decided on tyre manufacturing. It was
poignant that Hodaka motors felt that it was so
marginalised that it saw specialising in export markets was the way for its
survival (190-191). Arresting moments in the book come when Alexander shows that those perished firms were subjected to foul play by others.

As an epilogue,
the seventh and final chapter discusses motorcycle firms’ export strategies and
Japanese road safety regulations to combat road accidents and fatalities. In
this chapter, Alexander tells us that Honda management in America focused on
the smaller motorcycle market rather than going into direct competition with
the domestic and British-dominated larger vehicles. Honda also spotted the
macho “outlaw” images of the motorcycle riders, popularised by Marlon Brando’s
1953 film The Wild One (200). In the
United States, Honda wanted to appeal to a different clientele: young,
middle-class, do-gooders. Honda’s U.S. strategy
involved the 50cc Super Cub. The advertisement “You meet the nicest people on
Honda” epitomizes this period and was the product of a joint effort between Honda
and an American advertising agency (203). Consequently, Honda rose to
prominence in the U.S. market.

Undoubtedly,
Alexander’s book takes readers on a courageous yet smooth ride, but it is not
without bumps along the way. One bump is Alexander’s explanations for failed
firms. Some company directors felt morally obligated to their senior engineers
and larger companies, which clipped the wings of the junior firms. Alexander
relates this senior-junior relationship to the ie system in which, the eldest
son in the family is expected to carry the family name (177). I feel that a
different explanation rooted in Japan’s feudalist mentality would be more
suited, but the post-war Japanese constitution promulgated a new constitution
that heralded, inter alia, equality
for all, which symbolised the government’s stance towards the iesystem. What seems a more useful
explanation to the junior-senior relationships perhaps lies elsewhere.

In the
aftermath of Japan’s defeat and through the early 1950s, the Japanese
intelligentsia lamented the enduring shadow of the “feudalistic mindset” as a key element in Japanese militarism. They
argued that the new Japan should overcome this mindset of fascism in order to become a modern democracy. In those early years of postwar Japan, teachers (also precocious school students
and university students) sought education as a key to cleanse their wartime
imperialist dogma and guilt, and develop their intellect to contribute to the
new peaceful era (Oguma). It is doubtful if the
paradigm shift occurred amongst motorcycle manufacturers. They were presumably
socialised during wartime, and possibly imbued with the feudalistic mindset. Alexander gives hints, however. Amongst them were
Honda Sôichirô's demanding management style, and
Honda and Yamaha subduing strikes (123, 146). These examples will inspire
industrial relations scholars to study further this aspect of Japan’s motorcycle wars (as recounted in
Chapters 4 and 5).

Another bump I
felt was Alexander’s challenge to what he calls the Hamamatsu region myth. It
suggests the region is the cradle and hub of the Japanese motorcycle industry
(16, 164-165). Indeed, Alexander’s documentation demonstrates motorcycle firms
began in many localities. But I was left wondering how the Hamamatsu myth
served in the consciousness of the Japanese motorcycle industry and motorcycle
enthusiasts. In some cases, regional identity can be forged and asserted as a counter-hegemonic
expression against broad nationalism, strongly linked to the industry’s host
region (Detroit and Toyota City for the motorcar; the Silicon Valley and IT;
Switzerland and watches). It may be best left to anthropologists to investigate
the power of the regional identity in blunting the awareness of the underbelly
of Japan’s industrial development.

However, these
bumps are minor and do not damage the quality of Alexander’s work. His
unflagging energy is apparent in his style—both in the main text and his
translation of Japanese interviews. The book will appeal to a wide range of
scholars and motorcycle enthusiasts who want to learn more of the background of
the manufacturers and their founders. It can inspire scholars who wish to draw
comparisons with motorcycle histories of other nations. For its significance to
Japanese history, Alexander’s book is in the vein of the historian John Dower’s Embracing Defeat, which focuses on
the popular experience of the early postwar era. Both
historians present alternative “bottom up” views of postwar Japanese economic and industrial developments that are often narrated from
nation-based, “top down” political and economic perspectives. The book has
carved out a unique niche in motorcycle historiography (more for the
English-language scholars of Japanese history) and will remain seminal reading
in the decades to come.

Notes

1 Japanese names feature surname first,
followed by given names. I follow this convention. But mine follows the Western
order as I am writing in English, and living and working in the
English-speaking world.

Works Cited

Dower,
John.Embracing Defeat: Japan in the aftermaths of
World War II. London: Penguin Books, 2000.